VESPERO got together as a quartet (Arkady Fedotov - vocals, bass, flute, synths; Valentin Rulev - violin, synths; Ivan Fedotov - drums, percussion; Alexander Kuzovlev - guitar, bass, synths) in Astrakhan (south of Russia) 2003 on the common interest in playing psychedelic music. Later Natalya Tjurina (vocals) joined, and the band moved into more progressive rock-related areas. As their Moscow fellows KAFTAN SMEKHA, VESPERO are deeply influenced by avant theatre and experimental poetry. Since the very first demos their sound has been influenced by GONG, early FLOYD, FAUST and related bands from that era. Highly recommended for all fans of these (and beyond!).

I got in touch with the band and the band through Alexander and Arkady answered my questions.

When,
where and by whom was your band born ? Did any of you, past and
present members, play in any other bands before joining up in your
band ? Why did you choose that name ?

Alexander:
VESPERO
appeared
on the
ruins of
the
Astrakhan
band called Mirabeau.
Its members, Arkady
Fedotov
(bass)
and Valentin Rulev
(violin)
were joined by Ivan Fedotov
(drums)
and later by Alexander
Kuzovlev
(guitar) and Alexei Klabukov (synthesizers) to start up a new band.
All of us had some experience in playing with many local groups, but
I guess their names say nothing to readers.

Arkady:
The name VESPERO was suggested by Valentine
Rulev. It quite a romantic and mysterious word with lots of hidden
meanings
for us.

Russia
is a vast, vast country. How is
it to run a band in Russia ?

Alexander:
There are lots of bands in Russia performing in various genres and
styles. Their number is quire comparable
to the
size of
our country. But most of them remain unknown to foreign listeners
because of some objective reasons. We were lucky to join a
record-label, RAIG Records which works hard to integrate Russian
bands into a global musical community.

Over
to your albums. Your debut album Rito was released in 2007. Please
tell us more about this album.

Arkady:
That album was compiled from our old tracks which were recorded in
the period of 2003- 2006 and appeared on our self-released discs.
Igor Gorely, a chef of RAIG offered us to select the most interesting
tracks and publish them as CD-album.

Alexander:
Alisa Coral of SPACE MIRRORS and PSI CORPS did a great
sound-production, so that all tracks work perfectly as a whole. But
still, Rito is more a compilation than a conceptual piece of work.

Your
second album Surpassing All Kings was released in 2009. Please tell
us more about this album.

Alexander:
Actually, that was our first experience when we recorded everything
with a vision of future album… Though, we faced some difficulties
in achieving exactly what we wanted… The quality of original tracks
was rather poor…

Arkady:
And again, everything was put up on a new level thanks to wonderful
sound-production of Alice
Coral…
I think it was our most variable album as we tried to play with
elements of various styles, like space-rock, canterburry, ambient,
zeuhl, etc… and we didn’t care much of what we got finally.

Your
most recent album is By The Waters Of Tomorrow from last year. Please
tell us more about this album.

Alexander:
That album is much closer to our current state of mind and
aesthetical vision than previous works… And it was a great
experience of cooperation with violinist Vladimir Belov.

And
I’m especially satisfied with the contribution from ell
reflected
in
collaboration
with
Vladimir
Belov.Arkady: The most important thing with this album is our confidence of music
we create. We learnt from mistakes of the previous albums and we got
more sophisticated in a studio… We paid much more attention to
small details and nuances in order to create a true “water-flow”
work.

You
have also released three live albums. Please tell us more about these
three live albums.

Arkady:
The
first one was
Liventure
N19. It
was our final show with a singer Natalia
Tyurina
on board who moved from Astrakhan to Saint-Petersburg. Recorded in
August 2008, it featured almost all tracks from our Surpassing All
Kings album. Liventure
19 can
be downloaded for free from
http://vespero.bandcamp.com/album/liventure-19

The
second one was
Foam. It’s a live set of December
2006.
Lots of percussions, certain oriental flavor
and a
flying
female
voice. It was released in the USA only by Trial Records. All copies
were sold out and the album can be downloaded for free from
http://vespero.bandcamp.com/album/foam

Third
live album is Linenture
N21.
It’s a collection of our best live recordings from 2009. Very
trippy and psychedelic work. It was released on vinyl LP only by
Golden Pavilion Records from Portugal. But there is another version
of the album, non-mastered, and without one track. It can be
downloaded for free from
http://vespero.bandcamp.com/album/liventure-21

Your
music has been described as a mix of Hawkwind and Pink Floyd. But how
would you describe you music and which bands would you compare
yourself with ?

How
is your gigs situation. Is it easy to get gigs for you in Russia ?

Alexander:
We like to play gigs. And we are invited to perform in various cities
and places… However, we live in Astrakhan, far from Russia’s
major cultural centers… Enormous travel costs make us difficult to
travel and perform in Russia as much as we want. Though, we try to
perform in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg at least once a year… even
at our own cost… In our home town, we try to play at least one big
show every two months. From time to time, we invite friendly bands to
come to Astrakhan and perform with us.

What
is your latest update ? What is your plans for this year and beyond ?

Alexander:
A new studio album entitled U-Boats,
Willkommen Hier is in a pipe. People say it is our the most
“kraut-rockish” work to date.

To
wrap up this interview, is there anything you want to add to this
interview ?

The part where they said the next album was going to be their most Krautrock sounding of their output - I nearly blew my load...Quite frankly, I´m struggling to see how they´re going to top last years masterpiece.

“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

The 4th official album by VESPERO entitled "Subkraut: U-Boats Willkommen Hier" is a conceptual framework for six instrumental rock songs which are inspired by Russian Futurism of the early 20th century, German musical underground of the 70's, modern American fiction writers, as well as mysteries of the Great Ocean still not completely explained by mankind.

The whole march got the shape at the Vespero’s MS in Astrakhan, 2011. Responsible soundmariners are Alexander Kuzovlev and Alexei Klabukov. Art navigation by Zonder Zond. Executive planning by Igor Gorely.

"A German bird of prey had been carved into the rock above the submarine dock, but Morris had used a kosher salami to blast away the swastika in its talons. Likewise a yellowed banner announcing 'U-Boats Willkommen Hier' had been scorched with lasers, and a stack of crates and steel drums stamped with the SS thunderbolt had served as the bull's-eye for numerous whipped-cream targeting experiments." – from "Sewer, Gas & Electric: The Public Works Trilogy" by Matt Ruff (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997).

CD comes inside a silkscreen cardboard folder with a special map-poster.

I am literally drooling all over myself here. This is without a doubt the one album I'm looking forward to the most.
Krautrock right up the snauzer thank-you! Vespero just might be the musical equivalent to chili

“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

CD (Basic edition) is $14.00 plus $6.00 for shipping to any international destination. We use PAYPAL.Order now from RAIG >> http://www.raig.ru/cot.asp

The first pressing of CD (6 tracks – 67 min.) is limited to 500 units.

There are basic and special collectable ("Seebar") editions.

Basic edition is packaged in a oversized thick folder of rough cardboard with silkscreened cover-art; it contains a big full color submarine navigation map.

The "Seebar" edition (cat. number R073PG) is packaged in a oversized foil stamped, hard cover case; apart from a navigation map, it also contains a full color oversized booklet and postcards, special set of vintage photographs, plus hand-crafted replicas of U-Boat pennant, crew member dog-tag and cuff-title.

50 numbered "Seebar" units will be available exclusively through RAIG's web-store... in a week. We still try to calculate and fix reasonable price for it :)

RAIG presents: "Droga", the 5th studio album by the Russian premier space-art-rock act VESPERO.
The release will be available in two versions: regular CD-edition
housed in a thick rough cardboard folder with silkprinted artwork; and
special 100-ltd. two-disc set. In addition to a regular "Droga" CD, the
latter version includes the "Liventures, etc" pro-duplicated CD-R. This
disc is a satellite release to both the "Droga" and "Subkraut: U-Boats
Willkommen Hier" albums. It captures VESPERO live and performing
alternative versions of their favorite compositions, cover songs,
compilation exclusives, and new songs. All tracks on "Liventures, etc"
are previously unreleased; the album is not available as a separate
disc-release. Coming soon! Stay tuned and watch for digital
streaming/downloads at Official R.A.I.G. Bandcamp.

PREMIERE! VESPERO presents an official video of "Steppe" from the upcoming "Droga" CD-album. The release hits the streets this summer. Stay tuned!

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